Roland Goober Character Analysis

ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper was asked his thoughts on former Florida linebacker Jarrad Davis.

In the movie, The Voices, we meet Jerry Hickfang. Jerry appears like your regular quirky, new guy on the job. He has an innocent, childlike demeanor and always has a smile on his face who seems genuinely pleased to be working in the packing and shipping department of Milton Fixture and Faucet which is a bathtub factory. He lives above an abandoned bowling alley in the small Midwest town of Milton with his two pets, a cat named Mr. Whiskers, and a dog named Bosco. No one at the company except for his boss is aware that he sees a government assigned psychotherapist, Dr. Warren. His other coworkers register him as awkwardly eccentric and upbeat. He has no human friends, the only friends he has are his pets, which incidentally speak to him, but

At the end of the play, he knows he has lost the chance of his knighthood, his reputation and the chance of Birling and CO merging with their rivals. However, he has not learned the lesson of the play: he is unable to admit his responsibility for his part in Eva's death.

The major conflict in The Chocolate War is the conflict between Jerry and Archie. Archie has assigned Jerry to decline his share of chocolates to sell for ten days. Jerry carries out this assignment; but on the eleventh day he continues to decline the chocolates. Archie reminds Jerry that he is only to decline for ten days. Jerry continues to disobey. He is committing ultimate betrayal; he is intentionally ignoring the orders of The Vigils. Archie and Jerry become enemies, and they continuously quarrel. Archie finally orders a fight between Emile, a Vigil wannabe, and Jerry.

Jerry, despite his relative decency, is victimized by the power structure of the school as well as his peers (Bagnall). “Choosing to disturb the universe means that Jerry himself is thrown into chaos” (Junko). His refusal to conform makes him the prime target of both the Vigils and the school officials, despite admiration from his peers. Cormier makes it clear that moral individuals can not survive unaided in a corrupt, oppressive system (Harris et al.). Jerry, while standing up for what he believes is right, is constantly torn down and abused by Archie’s goons. No one, not even his best friend Goober, came to his rescue to combat his oppressors. Arguably, “the reason Jerry was not saved was because he stood alone” (Harris et al.). Jerry stood alone in refusing to take the chocolates, his abuse by the Vigils, and his eventual physical and mental destruction by Janza. In fact, his destruction makes him into a martyr. His surrender in the end makes him an even more realistic hero and shows that it takes more people to fight powerful figures (Peck). Cormier challenges the perception of the modern “Superman” figure and replaces him with an “Average Joe”: a jack of all trades but master at none. Despite his defeat, Jerry’s legacy will live beyond him, whether publicly celebrated or privately discussed by Trinity students (Siegler). Jerry’s battle could have been won if his peers acted against the power structures as

Jerry’s new identity does not last long. He cannot challenge the authority of the Vigils without facing any consequences. Jerry is to be made an outcast rather than a hero.

They kept him… What will they do with him, sir?” (148). Tim hopes that they will somehow send Jerry back but instead they keep him, even though Jerry was Loyalists his own side wasn’t loyal. Tim starts to see that with anyone both Patriots and Loyalists are hypocrites and that you can’t save anyone even if you try.

If the relationship between Jerry and his father was more open where they could talk about anything, he might’ve not had to deal with his side of things alone. But instead, he goes it alone, without any help from his dad, his close friends, or even the teachers. In the beginning of chapter 37 on page 247, The Goober explains how he didn’t want to go to school and see Jerry being taunted and teased, so he stayed home for a couple days. When he came late to the raffle fight, he thought about how “the school reminded him of his own betrayals and defections.” Even the teachers don’t help him in the matter, they go along with the students. This is apparent in

He acts like Mr. Pignati’s death was inevitable, and refuses to admit he played a large part in Mr. Pignati’s death. John and Lorraine feared seeing the destruction they caused, and they refused to acknowledge that their decisions ever took

Jerry demonstrates how powerful the ability to choose your own actions is. Kevin; a future vigils member was talking to Danny about how they wanted the freedom to not sell the chocolates as shown is this quote. “‘I think maybe that Renault kid’s got the right idea...and said he wasn’t going to sell the junk...I'm getting sick of selling stuff...the kids probably got the right idea’”(Cormier,112). They envy jerry, that he doesn’t have to sell the chocolates. They also wish they had the guts to stop selling the chocolates. But not selling the chocolates does come with a price to pay. “‘I won’t sell their chocolates whether they beat me up or not, and I'm not a fairy, not a queer’”(Cormier,173).

Jerry does not want to become a school bully like the vigils are. Jerry also does not want his dad to get involved with the vigils. Jerry realizes that his father has a very sad and boring life. Jerry does not want to become just like his father. Jerry wants to have a fun and exciting life.

Having never experienced a positive way to express his feeling in his childhood it caused him to be so cold and empty in side. He was as inhuman and void of emotions as his small childhood pet.

He felt undeserving; he didn’t even know what the song meant and he was getting more recognition that Gracie. Traynor felt guilty for being more liked, for being more appealing, for being white. He felt terrible for

The wealthy sat in the comfort of their mansions while he was out on the field, working long and hard hours. He did not think it was fair that no matter how hard he tried, he will only remain a poor sharecropper while they will still remain the rich landowners. His resentment gave way to some vengeful tendencies, like burning barns. He purposely targets the barn because it plays a vital part in keeping the farm going. Owners benefited the most from the livestock and if they did not have any animals on their farm, then the farm would not be able to function properly and they would lose a significant amount of money. Even though he held a grudge toward his bosses, he did not want to kill them, instead, he focused on destroying something he viewed as the source of their happiness and comfort; their wealth. In a Marxist view, his carefully planned actions illustrate how his low social status affects his personality and leads him into doing harmful

I admire Roland Goubert (The Goober) the most of all the characters within this book because he is honest, loving, and a loyal friend to Jerry. In the book when Jerry was refusing to sell the chocolates, Goober felt many feelings that Jerry was feeling. For